Indonesian navy finds Malaysian oil tanker taken by own crew

Authorities say Vier Harmoni was found on Wednesday off West Kalimantan province, on the Indonesian part of Borneo Island.

The Indonesian navy said on Thursday that they have found the Malaysian oil tanker carrying almost US$400,000 (S$542,000) worth of diesel, which was taken by its own crew last week due to a dispute.

The navy spokesman Edi Sucipto said the team hunted day and night, continuously, for the tanker. At last the tanker, Vier Harmoni was found on Wednesday off West Kalimantan province, on the Indonesian part of Borneo Island.

Sucipto said the ship is being escorted to Tanjung Pinang, the provincial capital of Indonesia's Riau Islands, for further investigations.

Initially, Vier Harmoni, which was transporting 900,000 litres of diesel, was feared hijacked when it was sailing from Tanjung Pelepas port in Malaysia.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) had launched an investigation to recover the tanker.

However, the Indonesian authorities quickly realised that the tanker had been taken by its Indonesian crew due to a dispute.

According to the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), an anti-piracy monitoring group, the region where the tanker went missing is quite known for hijackings. But recently, the number of hijacking cases has dropped.

News.Az reported that the number of hijackings that were reported in the first half of 2016 has decreased by 64%, compared with the same period last year.